The invention relates to a car headlight lamp having a lamp envelope, which has seals which are located opposite to each other and through which current lead-in members are passed to an electrical element and which is secured by means of a holding member to a socket, the holding member having a dipping cap, which at least partly surrounds the lamp envelope and is connected to a current lead-in member of the lamp envelope.
In a car headlight high-pressure discharge lamp of this kind known from EP 0 231 935 A2, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,039, the holding member has an arcuate securing body of synthetic material, which is provided with a strip of isolating material, which extends parallel to the axis of the lamp. This strip is in the form of a gutter and acts as a dipping means for obtaining an asymmetrical light distribution. On the outer side of the strip, an electrical conductor is introduced, which establishes the electrical connection between the current lead-in member of the lamp remote from the socket and a first socket contact. The other current lead-in member is connected to a second socket contact. A securing element of the holding member is inserted into a cylindrical recess of a socket consisting of synthetic material. During the manufacture, the holding member with the lamp envelope is adjustable with respect to the socket in longitudinal direction; moreover, this construction permits a slight tilting movement of the lamp envelope with respect to the socket. Because of the electrical conductors passed through the socket, however, a transverse displacement between the holding member and the socket is not possible. Moreover, the lamp envelope is then solely held by means of the comparatively sensitive current lead-in members thereof.
Also in a car headlight lamp known from EP 0 224 954 A1, corresonding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,049, the lamp envelope is held only at the current lead-in members projecting from both sides. In the later road traffic, this may lead to a bending of the current lead-in members so that the lamp envelope loses its predetermined position in the optical system.